The Forum, Southend

The Forum, a four storey, multi-million pound integrated public and academic library, opened in Southend, Essex.

A library for readers now and tomorrow

The project is a joint venture between Southend-on-Sea Borough Council, the University of Essex and South Essex College.

Demco won the tender for the shelving and the children’s library. Demco’s experience working on another combined public and academic library - The Hive, Worcester, showed their expertise in designing and installing shared services spaces. The Forum team also visited Norwich, Brighton and Peckham libraries.

A much talked about feature of the new space is the children’s library. Angela Breakey, Library Manager, sees the children’s library as an important part of the library’s reader development programme: “These children are our readers of tomorrow.”

The Demco white Promo and clad Cantilibra shelving make extra impact with a range of graphic end panels, and clever layouts create zones and casual seating areas.

With 150,000 books to be incorporated into the space, planning and logistics were key and the teams admit that ‘it became a way of life’. But the end result is a library that is open seven days a week and is buzzing with student and public interest.